We heard a lot about audits in the past few days. “We can’t possibly fix transportation now,” we were told. “We have to have an audit first.” There’s nothing wrong with the audit bills introduced (see here and here).
That was introduced, well, by me. In compliance with HB 2838, VDOT dutifully reported its findings to our own oversight agency, the Joint Legislative Review and Audit Committee last September. The figures show we have a maintenance deficit.
After yesterday’s contentious Rules Committee meeting, there is perhaps not a lot of hope for a transportation funding solution.
That’s the formula for the happiest day of the year. Which today, apparently, is. The formula (O is for outdoors, N is for Nature, S is for socialization with neighbors, Cpm stands for childhood pleasant memories, He represents holiday expected) was created by British psychologist Cliff Arnall.
He also figures that a date in late January is the most depressing day of the year.
I voted at 9:30. I was voter number 32. Typically by this time, there would be about 500 voters at my precinct. Anecdotal evidence from around the district suggests that this is pretty much the turnout everywhere. (Except Danchai, my aide, voted at 9 and he was number voter number 8!)
I am wondering if any of you have thoughts on why turnout in this election is so Gawdawful.
We’ve had a spirited primary race here in the 11th. Was it too negative?
The Mt. Vernon Committee has signs up along the highways reminding people that today is election day. Combine that with all the mail and the phone calls and no one could say they were unaware that today was Election Day.
Is it voter fatigue? Or is it just the heat? Share your thoughts.
I decided months ago that I would support Sen. Obama. But as this race went on (and on and on), I developed increasing respect for Sen. Clinton. No matter how many times people tried to count her out, she just wouldn’t quit.
Today, her speech endorsing Sen. Obama struck, it seems to me, all the right notes. She acknowledged the sadness some women feel that there won’t be a woman in the Oval Office next year. But she also clearly laid out the reasons why we as Democrats have to come together.
I’ll be doing everything I can to make sure we have a Democrat in the White House come January 20, 2009 (and could it come quickly, please?) Thanks to Hillary Clinton’s gracious speech today, I think there will be a lot more people working for that same goal.
The most interesting meeting on Obama’s schedule tomorrow is the visit to the offices of the United Mine Workers of America. Anyone who was privileged to hear International President Cecil Roberts at the Northern Virginia Central Labor Council’s dinner knows that he is already “Fired up, ready to go.”
That’s what today’s WaPo editorial says about the House Rs’ insistence that there is no need for additional revenue for transportation.
Sorta reminds me of the method Professor Harold Hill (in Music Man) used to teach children to play music. He called it the Think Method. “I now have a revolutionary method where you don’t bother with the notes,” he promised the children in River City. Thinking was all it would take to master a musical instrument. By the time the unsuspecting parents discovered that the Think Method wouldn’t work, Professor Hill would be long gone.
The Think Method was a sham in the musical, and it’s a sham in Virginia as well. We’re going to have to make some tough decisions about whether we really want to address our transportation needs–or just think about it. But unlike Harold Hill, we’ll still be around when voters learn that the Think Method won’t get us where we want to go.
